SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms  a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.

Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents  who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.

Damn, it must be traumatic to be a former congressturd and not have a job. You’re left with “advocating” causes and making appearances with politicians... and when your pet legislative issue doesn’t fly the way you want, you have to evoke the sympathy angle.

The Gun Lobby is composed of your fellow Americans, Gabby. Tens of millions of us. But it’s ok because I know you have the mental capacity of a very young child and this was written in your name by the husband who is making use of your condition, or one of his handlers.

12
posted on 04/18/2013 9:11:05 AM PDT
by Trod Upon
(Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

IT IS NOT TO FOLLOW THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE OR A CHOSEN FEW

15
posted on 04/18/2013 9:12:33 AM PDT
by MadelineZapeezda
(Â“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.Â”....Ben Franklin)

My question is, who do they think the gun lobby is, anyway? It's not the gun companies... they are, for the most part, much more moderate in their perspectives than the NRA, and they don't have pockets deep enough to buy congress anyhow.

The real answer is, the gun lobby is the people. The grassroots. The guys in the trenches.

Yes, the senate is in the grip of the gun lobby, and that's the way the people want it.

She has been devastated from her injuries. She was anti-second amendment before and nothing has changed. Given her condition, her husband’s effort to kickstart a new career in politics, and the money being thrown around with handlers and consultants (remember the newtown “families” each had politican handlers and media consultants assigned to them) I DOUBT she wrote anything.

How about locking up criminals and crazy people to protect everyone else, instead of locking up everyone else to protect them from criminals and crazy people?

(But that would run against one of her party's major doctrines.)

I'm not convinced that Obama's (and Biden's) tears weren't fake, although they may have been hoping that this monstrosity would be passed by the Senate and die in the House so they could use it against the Republicans in 2014. Boehner and the Republicans can now rightly say that the Democrat Senate couldn't manage to pass anything. (The House could pass the Grassley-Cruz Amendment and send it over to the Senate!)

Feinstein's AWB 2.0 went down 40-60 so it's not anything close to a minority that stopped it.

24
posted on 04/18/2013 9:33:00 AM PDT
by Sooth2222
("Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." M.Twain)

What is sad about this--which while not a perfect analogy, reminds one of the shameless way Mrs. James Brady exploited the body of her disabled husband, to appear a hero to the far Left--is that Mrs. Giffords feels the need to advertise the fact that she does not really understand the Constitutional role of the Federal Government! How many who serve in Congress, or who have served in Congress, are similarly ignorant?

The Federal Government is one of delegated powers (functions). It is not anointed by God to solve all the problems of humanity; not even all the problems, real or imagined, of American citizens. Its functions are clearly spelled out; they are not implied; they are not driven by wish lists. (See Implied Powers? Clearly Implied Limitations.)

I am sorry that Gabby Giffords was shot (along with the others during the same incident, including a judge who died), and that she is permanently and severely brain-injured. No decent person could be less than sympathetic about that.

Ditto for those whose children or other loved ones were murdered in Newtown, or the victims of any other crime.

HOWEVER...

...making law based on the pleas of those who have been victims of criminals (and, quite clearly, mentally sick criminals) is absurd. IF, IF, IF any of the proposed laws would have had a snowball’s chance in Hell of preventing a future incident of the same type, then I’d be willing to listen and discuss the merits of such proposed legislation. But they did not, and were never intended as such.

No, the proposed legislation was ONLY aimed at making it far more difficult (or, in the case of the “assault weapon” and magazine bans, impossible) for ordinary, otherwise law-abiding citizens to obtain access to firearms for self-defense and defense of liberty. This right, as pretty much anyone reading this post knows, is something that is EXPLICITY protected under the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Thus, even if the proposed legislation could have prevented future incidents of this type, I would be opposed. The Founders knew, and so should we, that the common good produced by an armed and trained (i.e. “well regulated”) population far outweighs any harm to the relatively small number of individuals victimized in accidents or by criminals/deranged people. Such things will ALWAYS be with us, but failing to have an armed populace in certain circumstances could literally destroy (or allow for the destruction of) our society - something that would cause harm on a level orders of magnitude higher than the admittedly tragic incidents of this type cause.

My answer to ANY calls for further “gun control” is “NO! THUS FAR AND NO FURTHER!” We have constantly given up rights - by compromise or bullying or both - since 1934, and the promised safety benefits have never materialized. Had they done so, we MIGHT be having a different discussion. However, even an entirely good-willed person advocating for more such laws would have to be called on their insanity - because doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result IS insane. But we’re not dealing with people of good will (not at the higher political levels - I’ll concede good will to the victims and their families, as well as to the wholly uninformed). We are dealing with power-hungry tyrant wannabbees. Obama’s childish meltdown in his presser yesterday reveals him for the malignant narcissist that he is, and is a window into the lack of restraint that he’d exercise over a mostly disarmed populace...if he could achieve that. Thankfully, he suffered a major setback yesterday, but we cannot drop our guard.

Again, I genuinely feel sorry for Gabby Giffords and her family for what they’ve had to suffer and will suffer in the future. Despite her husband’s antics, he is still her husband and effectively lost his wife on that day. Same goes to the victims of ALL crimes, whether mass murders or “ordinary” one-on-one crime. But their pain, and the very human emotional response to it, are not acceptable reasons to disarm an entire nation and prevent them from protecting themselves against criminals of all kinds - including and perhaps especially those who wear expensive suits and order those in uniform to commit crimes. After all, governments in the 20th Century murdered over 150 million people - DISARMED people - far more than all criminals of every stripe combined. We are not immune from such in this country - not by logic (we are just as human and fallible as people in other nations), and not based on history (just ask the American Indians and the Japanese Americans of the WW2 era). Our government has ALREADY committed genocide, just not within living memory as did the German government.

Emotion, however strongly and justifiably felt, simply cannot be the basis for policy. That is why I daily thank God for the permanence of the 2nd Amendment - it cannot simply be wiped away in the emotion of the moment.

37
posted on 04/18/2013 9:52:38 AM PDT
by Ancesthntr
("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)

Yes! My triple posting was a result of an apparent breakdown in access—certainly not intentional. What is going on? (Don’t want to be paranoid, but is Free Republic being sabotaged or jammed—particularly on the Left’s hot button issues? Those determined to disarm Americans have no more use for free discussion, than for any other basic attribute of our heritage.)

Gabby, talk to your hubby about shooting a Glock 19 with an eeeevil 15 round magazine, and trying to purchase an eeeevil AR-15 platform Modern Sporting Rifle out of state. Then lecture the rest of us about ‘sensible’ gun control.

You can lie to yourself if you need to Ms Giffords but we are done allowing you to lie to us. The NRA does not vote. The millions of Americans that support and defend the US Constitution do. It is we who defeated this latest attack on it.........

49
posted on 04/18/2013 1:30:51 PM PDT
by SECURE AMERICA
(Where can I sign up for the American Revolution 2013 and the Crusades 2013?)

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